The Crossing Tour - Alejandro Escovedo with Don Antonio (band)

Crossing borders, jumping barriers, taking risks, betting it all: that’s the path Alejandro Escovedo has been taking in his lifelong search for the heart of rock and roll.

Alejandro’s new album, The Crossing (YepRoc Records, September 14) is about that journey: searching, but not necessarily finding, eyes and ears open all the way. It is his first for Yep Roc Records and his first ever recorded in Europe. “This says more about me than any of my records without it being a record about me,” Alejandro says.

The Crossing tells the tale of two boys, one from Mexico, one from Italy, who meet in Texas to chase their American rock and roll dreams. They discover a not-so-welcoming, very different place from the Promised Land they imagined, with cameos from the likes of Wayne Kramer of the MC5, Joe Ely and James Williamson of the Stooges to show the boys the way.

It was recorded in an Italian farmhouse near Mogdliana and features his collaborator and co-songwriter Don Antonio with his band whom will be backing and opening for Alejandro. Don Antonio has backed numerous American acts in Europe but this will be their first ever tour of the US.

Escovedo’s trailblazing career began with The Nuns, San Francisco's famed punk innovators, to the Austin-based-based alt-country rock pioneers, Rank & File, to Texas bred darlings, True Believers, through countless all-star collaborations and tribute album appearances and finally a series of beloved solo albums beginning with 1992's acclaimed Gravity, Escovedo has earned a surplus of distinctions: No Depression magazine's ‘Artist of the Decade’ Award in 1998 and the Americana Music Association's Lifetime Achievement Award for Performing in 2006, just to name two. His last album Burn Something Beautiful was co-produced, written and recorded with Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey. Alejandro worked with producing legend Tony Visconti (David Bowie/T-Rex) on Real Animal and Street Songs of Love; he has previously worked with Chuck Prophet, John Cale, Los Lobos, Willie Nelson and Bruce Springsteen. Now Hepatitis C free, Alejandro serves as a spokesperson for the Prevent Cancer Foundation “Think About the Link” campaign about the link between viruses and Hep C. As an official showcasing artist, the Alejandro Escovedo Band with Don Antonio will debut The Crossing at the Americana Music Association Festival 2018 at the Americana Music Stage, hosted by WMOT Roots Radio, NPR Music and World Cafe.

"You just do your good work, and people care," Alejandro says. "I always believed, when I was a kid, that if you worked hard, you would find fulfillment. I think I got a lot of that from my father and my brothers. A working musician is all I ever wanted to be. Hard work, stay true to what you want to do, and then eventually someone would notice for that very reason."

Alejandro Escovedo

ACCOLADES
2006- Americana Music Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Performing
1998- Named No Depression Artist of the Decade
1993- Musician of the Year at Austin Music Awards

SOLO
1992- Gravity
1994- Thirteen Years
1996- With These Hands
1998- More Miles Than Money: Live 1994-1996
1999- Bourbonitis Blues
2001- A Man Under the Influence
2002- By the Hand of the Father
2005- Room Of Songs
2006- The Boxing Mirror
2008- Real Animal
2010- Street Songs Of Love
2012- Big Station
2016- Burn Something Beautiful

SOUNDTRACKS
2004- Robbing Peter
2007- Jimmy Carter: Man From Plains

BANDS
-He began his music career with The Nuns, a mid-'70s punk band based in San Francisco.

*The Nuns opened for Sex Pistols’ last show at Winterland in January 1978

*played with Judy Nylon in 1978

*The first show he played with Nylon was a pivotal moment: opening at Max’s Kansas City for former Velvet Underground guitarist John Cale.

*co-founded the pioneering alt-country band Rank and File (w/ Chip and Tony Kinman ) in 1980

*formed True Believers (with brother Javier and Jon Dee Graham) 1983

*played national tours supporting Los Lobos

*Buick MacKane 1987-90

*a nod to the influence of the 70's on Escovedo's musical tastes and reflects an edgier, harder rocking sound than any of his solo releases.

-In 2003, after having lived with Hepatitis-C for many years, Alejandro fell critically ill and nearly died.

-Friends and admirers around the country organized benefit shows to help the songwriter. This effort grew into the album POR VIDA: A TRIBUTE TO THE SONGS OF ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO in 2004. The 31 contributing musicians included Steve Earle, Jon Dee Graham, Lucinda Williams, John Cale, Jennifer Warnes, Ian Hunter, The Jayhawks, Los Lonely Boys and Son Volt, as well as family members Pete Escovedo, Javier Escovedo and niece Sheila E.

-In 2005, Escovedo's song "Castanets" appeared on the iPod playlist of George W. Bush, prompting a self-imposed ban on live performances of the song.
*Alejandro performed "Castanets" on December 29, 2007 while opening for Patti Smith in New York City's Bowery Balloom.

THEATRICAL WORK
BY THE HAND OF THE FATHER is the music and selected stories from the theatre-work created by Alejandro Escovedo in collaboration with playwrights Theresa Chavez, Eric Gutierrez and Rose Portillo. The play and music explore the relationships between immigrant fathers and their children. The theatrical work grew out of songs he had written about his father, Pedro Escovedo

FAMILY
-His parents emigrated to Texas from Mexico

-His father played in local mariachi bands in the 1930’s, as sang in major East Bay bands

-Brothers Coke Escovedo and Pete Escovedo, both percussionists, have played with Santana, Azteca and Malo

"Alejandro is an abstract expressionist historian of his and our past, of emotion and desire."
- Jonathan Demme

"Musically, Alejandro Escovedo is in his own genre."
-David Fricke, Rolling Stone

“Escovedo has blended the lyricism of Bruce Springsteen and Jackson Browne with the raw power of the Stooges and the Velvet Underground…the result is music with heart, brains, and a burning sense of adventure.”
- Mark Kemp, Rolling Stone

“A masterwork from one of the genuine lights in rock music.”
-Billboard

“Escovedo’s songs brim with beauty and suffering, love and fear, anger and determination — in short, with life.”— USA Today

“Escovedo keeps getting better at an age when most artists are on cruise control.”
- Chicago Tribune

“Tom Waits. Bruce Springsteen. Bob Dylan. They’re master singer-songwriters who thousands have tried to emulate. This John Cale-produced album proves there’s another name ready for the list.”
- Penthouse

Don Antonio

Guitarist. Composer. One of the internationalists of Italian music.
Don Antonio Gramentieri goes from the record producer’s seat to the live stage, from music for movies to theatre to ballet, brewing interesting sounds and vision, re-inventing and re-twisting the wheel of tradition.
Don Antonio has toured the world several times, sat in a recording room with David Hidalgo, Jim Keltner, Marc Ribot and many others, performed as a very special tour companion (and sometimes hired as a record producer) with Richard Buckner, Dan Stuart, Hugo Race Fatalists, Terry Lee Hale, Alejandro Escovedo, JD Foster. Composed scores for Sky/Fox, had songs picked up by VW for commercials, turned knobs and bent strings in studios from his homeland Romagna to anywhere.